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The services include seven distinct platforms.
Epic Games announced today that it is offering cross-platform game services originally built for Fortnite to all developers for free throughout 2019.
Announced through the Unreal Engine website, these services have been “battle tested” by 200,000,000 players across seven platforms: PC, Mac, iOS, Android, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. In the roadmap posted, the services will be free for all developers, is open to all engines, platforms and stores, and developers can “choose mix-and-match solutions from Epic and others” as desired.
The launch will begin with Unreal Engine and Unity integrations, and will start with a core set of features that will grow over the course of 2019.
Cross-platform login, friends, presence, profile and entitlements are coming sometime between Q2-Q3 2019 to PC, and other platforms throughout the year. This will provide the “core functionality for persistently recognizing players across multiple sessions and devices; identifying friends; and managing free and paid item entitlements.”
Voice communications are planned to come to all platforms in Q3 2019, as Epic is building an in-game voice communications service that supports “all platforms, all stores, and all engines.”
Cross-platform parties and matchmaking are coming between Q3-Q4 2019 to all platforms, data storage and cloud-saved games are coming Q2 2019 and cross-platform achievements and trophies are coming Q3 2019.
These services are likely to be heavily integrated into the newly launched Epic Games Store. The store, which might be the first real threat to Steam, was launched earlier this month and includes an 88% revenue share with developers using it.
During The Video Game Awards 2018, Epic announced that Hades from Supergiant Games was live exclusively on the Epic Games Store, along with Ashen from Annapurna.
Colin Stevens is a news writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.